Seeing This Little Person Deal With Harassment Will Make You Reconsider How You Treat Strangers

I’m sure you had plans for the day, but you’re going to have to put them aside for six minutes and fall in love with this stranger on the internet. His name is Jonathan Novick, he’s a filmmaker, he’s a little person, and he’s a total badass. Using a hidden camera that looks like a regular shirt button, Jon takes us with him as he goes out and about on an average day, giving us the chance to see the rudeness of strangers through his eyes.

“I moved to New York City about a year ago,” he tells us, “And although I consider it, ultimately, a good experience, it was made a lot more difficult because of my dwarfism.” Over footage of the city, Jon gives us some backstory from his childhood and educates us on how to respect people who look like him (for example: don’t use the word “midget” unless you’re cool with being an offensive asshole). He then goes on to show us some clips of how people react to him on a daily basis. And then you start sobbing.

While irritating, some of the reactions are innocent enough, like the man who compares him to the star of Little People, Big World. Others are just unfortunate, like the young kid who asks his mother “What is he?” Unfortunately, other reactions are downright awful. Jon gets harassed by passing men, people take photos of him when they think he isn’t looking, and one woman talks to him in a baby voice. It’s disturbing enough to make you hope his experiences are unique and rare, but you know they’re not.

Thankfully, Jon is willing to use his pain to help other people. I love this quote from the end of the documentary:

I don’t want to tell anyone what to do, or what to think or how to feel. Instead, what I’ll do is ask. I’ll ask that the next time you see someone who is different than you, think about what their day might be like. Think about all the events of their life leading up to that point. Think about their day. And think about what part of their day do you want to be?

Important stuff. I’m going to tuck that quote into my brain and keep it in mind in the future.